Reversed Misfortune
by Xinyii xo
Summary: Lightning and Serah accidentally switch bodies. Lightning has to live with the one person she can't stand while Serah has her equal share of problems to handle. Will they be switched back in time before anyone realizes who they really are? Hope/Lightning.
1. Two sisters in a problem

_**Reversed Misfortune**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_I probably should be working on _'Because You Are Here'_ but typing a new story is way more fun then re-reading and proofreading past chapters. I am still working on rewritting _'BYAH'_ and I'm almost done! So expect an update for that sometime soon. I also wasted a majority of my summer playing _Final Fantasy XII _and _Final Fantasy X _and I watched a whoole lot of _Bones_ lol;;; (which is why I kind of disappeared... lol [/guilty])

Plus after a string of events, I had a lot of free time and I just figured that I get started on this short story since I had it planned for a while, and it is on-going C8

It is also slightly AU since it takes place after the first game but the events of the sequel never happened (meaning, Lightning never went to a different dimension lol)

Enjoy~_**  
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_**Disclaimer: **_The only _Final Fantasy XIII_ I own is the game disc inside my PS3 :P

_-xxx-_

_Misfortune can very well be Lady Luck in disguise._

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter one: Two sisters in a problem**_

After the blast of smoke Serah accidentally triggered, she slowly opened her eyes only to see nothing but a heavy gray fog. Gently picking herself up off the floor, she quickly fell back down from the sudden painful rush to her head that had her seeing lights. Coughing out the smoke, Serah began to fan the smoke away from her eyes.

Once the smoke was cleared, Serah squinted and was able to see past the smoke…

… only to come face-to-face with her unconscious body lying helplessly on the floor.

A loud, shrill scream echoed throughout the second floor.

_-xxx-_

"No, Serah, I am not going with you to pick up Snow's fixed phone and that's final," Lightning said into her phone, annoyance laced clearly in her voice. She walked to her couch and flopped down on the silky furniture, angrily blowing a stray strand of pink hair out of her eyes.

"_But sis, Snow's busy and I need a ride to Maqui's place!"_ Serah begged on the other end. Almost everybody knew of Serah's infamous driving skills. It was because of that that she wasn't allowed to buy a car for herself nor was she allowed to be on the road behind the wheel. _"And don't you say that you have something to do because you and I both know that you're not busy today."_

Lightning sighed irritably while roughly running her hand through her pale hair.

After a short moment of intense silence, Lightning finally gave up. "Fine, fine," she huffed. "I'll be at your house in five minutes."

"_Thank you so much, sis!" _Serah cheered happily. _"I love you!"_ Lightning quickly ended the call without another word as she pushed herself off the couch. She reached to grab her set of keys from the coffee table while quickly putting on her shoes before making her way out the door.

_-xxx-_

The bell on the entrance of the local bar rang as Lightning and Serah made their way into the café. The woman standing behind the counter didn't look up from her cleaning when they entered, continuing to shine the many glasses that crowded around her as she spoke.

"I'm sorry but the café doesn't open until…" she slowly brought her head up to see the familiar faces of her friends.

Serah smiled. "Hey, Lebreau, we're not here for a drink," she giggled. "Is Maqui here?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs like always," Lebreau said while motioning the sisters to the case of stairs hidden in the back of the café.

"Thanks," Serah said as she waved to Lebreau, Lightning trailing behind her in silence.

"This better not take long, Serah."

The younger Farron smiled at her sister. "Don't worry, it won't. We just get in, get Snow's fixed phone and get out. It'll probably only take like three minutes," she said reassuringly and Lightning hoped that she was right.

Although Lightning had learned to let go some of her distaste for the people of NORA, she still didn't like to be around them for too long. Lebreau never stopped gossiping, the good and the bad stuff, and was always very chatty. Maqui was just plain annoying and always paid way too much attention on his inventions, causing him to be a very careless person, and Gadot was just like another Snow. Only louder… _as if one of them wasn't bad enough._

"Hey, Maqui!" Serah greeted once they reached the second floor of the café that served as his workshop. The blond teen looked up from his work and waved.

"Hey Serah," He smiled and turned to Lightning, ready to greet her too, only to cower back in fear once he saw the dark and annoyed look in her eyes. "So you're here to pick up the phone, right?" Serah nodded. "Okay, I'll go get it, be right back."

Maqui ran off in search of the phone while Lightning waited, arms crossed firmly over her chest, and Serah walked around in complete awe.

"Wow, look at all of this stuff…" she said while gazing at the many mechanical instruments and inventions that littered the floor and tables as Lightning continued to look uninterested. She could barely see anything but metal and felt very uncomfortable in the room. There was little light from the windows with the thick curtains blocking out a majority of the sunlight and there was just no space, most of it taken up by Maqui's inventions and tools. There was barely anywhere to walk as she saw Serah jumping and hopping over some things in her way as she continued her exploration.

"Hey, sis, come and look at this!" Serah called over.

"I'm not interested, Serah," Lightning replied flatly as she turned away from her sister.

Serah made her way back to where Lightning stood with something in her hands. "Hey, look at this!" Lightning stared at the device and then to Serah with stern eyes.

"Serah, you shouldn't touch anything, what if you accidentally set it off!"

"No, but look at this!" she practically shoved the device in her face. "Doesn't this look like Snow's phone? Maybe Maqui forgot where he put it…"

Lightning examined the device a little closer. "Huh… I wouldn't be surprised if he did. This place is a total mess…"

"Hey… what do you have in your hands?" Serah and Lightning both turned around to see a very anxious Maqui, his eyes wide and alert, standing behind them with something in his hands also resembling Snow's phone.

Maqui's sudden outburst scared Serah as let out a small yelp, accidentally letting the device slip through her fingers as it crashed onto the floor, unintentionally turning it on as a cloud of smoke erupted from the floor, engulfing the sisters.

_-xxx-_

The smoke started to clear a bit as footsteps quickly approached Serah.

"W-what happened? You shouldn't have touched anything!" Maqui said frantically. He looked over Serah quickly, trying to see if she was injured anywhere. When she had let out that scream earlier, Maqui couldn't help but feel a powerful wave of worry washing over him. Strangely, Maqui saw nothing wrong with her.

"T-this can't be! …It just _can't._" Serah said, her voice trembling. Maqui couldn't figure out what Serah was so hysterical about. He followed her line of vision to try to figure out why she was acting this way only to see one of his devices, broken and shattered into different pieces, and another person laying off to the side.

_Oh no…_

The body stirred a bit as Lightning slowly got up off the floor only to stare directly into her own eyes.

"… What the _hell_ is going on…?" she asked slowly and dangerously.

Serah couldn't believe her ears or her eyes as she witnessed her body move and speak without her consent, _and with such profanity!_ Maqui's reaction was also the same, his face pale, as he finally understood what was going on.

"Okay… so um… I think I have a pretty good idea on what is going on… but you're probably not going to like it." He said. "Actually, no, scratch that, you're _definitely _not going to like it…"

Lightning narrowed her eyes, almost daring him to go on, as Serah had her full attention on him. "Don't freak out but that device that you touched was something that I was in the middle of working on…"

"And…?" Lightning asked in a low voice.

Maqui swallowed hard as he continued. "I-it causes two nearby people to switch bodies."

Serah's eyes widened as Lightning couldn't believe her ears. He _had _to be lying. That sort of thing just wasn't possible!

Lightning walked to Maqui and had to reach up to grab his collar, shaking him violently. "Why the _hell_ would you even create something like that?"

Maqui tried to pry Lightning's hands off of his collar. Even in Serah's body, Lightning was still very intimating.

"I… I was bored," he choked out, trying to defend himself.

"Hey now, just as long as he has a fix to this, everything should be fine." Serah reasoned, trying to calm her sister down as Lightning loosened her grip on Maqui. "… you_ do_ have a way to undo this… don't you?"

Maqui let out a nervous laugh. He already had one (very scary) Farron mad at him; he didn't like the idea of another one ready to rip his heart out. According to what Snow had told him one day, both Farrons were mad scary when angered.

"Uh… no. I just started working on it. I didn't expect to use it any time soon… and when you dropped it on the floor, it broke."

After hearing this, both Serah and Lightning turned to Maqui with the nastiest glares they could make, Lightning's grip on Maqui's collar tightening once again.

"_What?_"

_-xxx-_

"I can not _believe_ this!" Serah cried once she got into Lightning's apartment room, kicking off her shoes by the entrance off to the side. She glanced briefly at her sister's strange choice of dirty worn-out boots for footwear. But then again, Lightning was never the one to care much about her appearance or her lack of femininity. To think that she would have to pretend to be her for an unknown amount of time was frightening and strange at the same time.

Lightning sighed as she closed the door behind her, slipping Serah's sandals off her feet in annoyance. She had almost forgotten why she always stayed away from wearing sandals when going out. Being in Serah's body and in her shoes reminded her of the pain and discomfort.

Serah walked to the couch and limply sat on it, blowing her sister's fringe away from her face. She could care less on how bad her posture was or how she wasn't sitting properly; there was a more important issue currently at hand.

"_You_ can't believe this? I have to live with the idiot now!" Lightning said irately, crossing her thin arms.

The younger Farron jumped up from her seat, her back snapping straight, her face pale. "Oh no…" she quietly whispered.

Lightning let her arms fall to the side as she felt worry wash over her. The situation was already bad enough as it was. What else was there to add to the misfortune?

"No one can know about this!" Serah said desperately as Lightning failed to comprehend. "About this… you and me, you know…?" she tried explaining but Lightning still didn't understand her point.

She raised a thin brow. "And why not?"

Serah stared at Lightning in disbelief. _Lightning… in my body…_

"Are you kidding me? Everyone'll think that we've gone crazy!" she clarified. "We can't let anyone know!"

Lightning shook her head as she disregarded what Serah was saying. "I'm not going home to that oaf, Serah." Just the thought of it made her want to throw up. "I think I might kill myself."

Serah grabbed onto her—er—Lightning's hand and begged. "C'mon, sis… do it for me… please?" she added sweetly. Lightning tried to pull away for she did not want to be caught in Serah's little cutesy act. They may have worked on her before but Lightning wasn't going to let it happen this time. And the fact that she was doing it in her body made it all the weirder.

"Bu—why do I have to do it? You've the one who married him, not me!"

"Yeah, but you're in the wife's body!"

Lightning stood her ground against Serah and her pleading eyes. They shouldn't work against her, not when Serah was in her body. No, Lightning Farron would not fall for it.

"Forget it! I'm not doing it!"

"I am going to shoot myself."

Lightning stood in front of Serah's large house in despair, dreading every moment she stood awkwardly outside the door, stalling as much as she possibly could.

She wouldn't allow Serah to drive _her_ car to drop her off at the house for it was way too dangerous for the both of them. So instead, Lightning took a taxi home and specifically told the driver to take his time, especially because Serah lived so close to her apartment.

Slowly, very slowly, Lightning went to unlock the door with the keys Serah gave her. Once the door was unlocked and opened, Lightning peeked her head in before entering, checking and double checking to make sure that no one was around. She hadn't seen Snow's car in the driveway but it could've been parked in the garage and there was no way of knowing for sure without making a whole lot of noise.

When Lightning was satisfied with the surroundings, she quietly made her way in, closing the door softly behind her. Even if he was home, she could just sneak in, clean herself up and go to sleep without even encountering the oaf.

Once the door was shut and her shoes were off—_I really need to find some more comfortable shoes to wear_—Lightning let out a soft sigh. Her sigh turned into a shocked gasp as she felt strong and large arms wrapped tightly around her currently small and fragile frame.

"Serah baby, I've missed you all day~!" Snow gushed lovingly in her ear as she felt goose bumps all over her from his hot breath in her ear. "Did you miss me too?" Where did he even come from? She should've been able to notice him since he was so ridiculously huge.

Lightning fought back the strong will and urge to punch Snow for the way he was acting but then Serah's words from earlier re-entered her mind.

"_I know you two don't exactly get along well but we can't let anyone know! Maqui already promised to keep his mouth shut so please just _try_ to get along and pretend to be me and like him, please?"_

… _This better not be a daily thing if Serah wants that to happen…_ Lightning thought darkly.

Softly, Lightning sighed as she took in a large breath. "Oh… Snow… my dear Snow… who I… l-love so much… I… missed… you…" _Ugh…!_

She could hardly believe herself when she said that to him. It just felt so wrong and way, way out of her comfort zone. Lightning just wanted to curl up in a corner and die. She didn't know how she'll be able to keep this act up.

Snow hummed happily in her hair while maintaining the tight embrace. "Did you get my phone from Maqui?"

Lightning tried to slowly pull away from Snow without making it seem like she wanted to be far away from him as possible as she tried her best to hide her disgust.

She nodded as she reached into Serah's purse for the newly fixed phone and placed it in his hands. "Thanks so much, baby, I'm sorry you had to pick it up for me. I would've gotten it myself if I wasn't so busy today," he said while scratching the back of his head, smiling as usual.

"No problem," Lightning said nonchalantly, unaffected by his so-called "charming smile", dubbed by Serah. "Sorry but I'm kind of tired. I'm going to go to bed now." _So please leave me alone now…_

"Huh… already? But it's only six and you haven't even eaten dinner yet."

Lightning started to walk towards Serah's bedroom. "I'm not hungry, good night."

_Maker, just take me now._

_-xxx-_

Straining her head and toes, Serah stood up tall and stretched her body to try and examine the contents inside the high cabinets.

Lightning was tall, that much was obvious, but how on earth did she manage to reach these cabinets? Serah couldn't do it even in her sister's ridiculously giant body. Her stomach rumbled loudly once more as she struggled to find some food.

There was barely anything in her refrigerator and all she could find was half a bottle of opened wine, expired milk, and month-old strawberry yogurt. After she threw out everything but the wine, Serah seriously wondered what Lightning ate everyday.

Craning her neck just a bit more, Serah could still barely see anything as she felt her toes about to give out. Desperately, she brought her hand out to reach for anything in the cabinets, running her hand over the surface. She cringed as she felt nothing but dust as she lost her balance and fell backwards, tumbling onto the tiled kitchen floors.

After taking a few seconds to recover from her fall, Serah got back on her feet and continued her search for food. Lightning had to have something to eat in her house. Next to the refrigerator was a small storage closet that she had almost missed since it looked like it was just a part of the countertop.

Making her way over to the closet, she pulled on the handle, hoping to find something edible on the other side. Serah flung the door open and her jaw dropped. On the other side, there was nothing but instant noodles along with other dried products that lasted for a long period of time.

Frustrated, Serah closed the storage closet and pondered in the kitchen, walking in countless circles as she tried to think. "How am I supposed to cook dinner now?" Serah sighed as she dragged her feet into the living room, throwing herself onto the cushiony couch. She couldn't drive out and buy food since Lightning made sure to take the car keys with her before she left the apartment. It was too dark outside to walk anywhere and who knew how long it would take to find an available taxi to drive her to a nearby grocery store and another for a ride back?

Serah picked her head up from the couch to look around the living room. She didn't know why, but she had almost forgotten how bland and plain Lightning's apartment was. It was probably because whenever they decided to get together and have a meal as a family, Serah always offered off her place to hang out and they rarely went to her apartment.

There was barely any furniture for Lightning only had the bare necessities; one couch along the wall, a coffee table, a TV, etc. Nothing hung from her plain white walls and every room in the apartment all seemed very spacious.

Serah brought her head back down to the couch. "Honestly, what does she spend all that money she makes at the GC on? Gunblades?" Serah huffed angrily onto the soft fabric of the couch.

Suddenly the door bell rang and the sudden jingle of sound made Serah jump from the couch. "Who could that be? It's kind of late for visitors…" _And who could be making a special visit just to see sis?_ Serah thought curiously as she swiftly scrambled off the couch and towards the front door, quickly fixing her hair and flattening her clothes before slowly opening the door.

As soon as the door opened, Serah was met with a vibrant and warm smile.

"Light! It's so good to see you again!" He dropped his duffle bags to the side as he advanced towards her, engulfing her in a tight hug.

Serah flinched slightly as she didn't see the sudden hug coming so soon, her actions flustered.

"H-hope?" Once she heard how high-pitched her voice was, she quickly adjusted it to match the way Lightning typically talked. "Hope… I—uh—what brings you here?"

Hope pulled away slightly as Serah was shocked at how tall Hope had grown over the years, his height surpassing that of her sister's. "Light… don't tell me you forgot already," he laughed as Serah felt herself placed in an awkward situation.

"Uh, would you care to, um, refresh my memory?" she asked casually, trying hard not to make it obvious that Hope wasn't actually talking to Lightning.

"I told you over the phone that I'm going to be studying at the University of New Bodhum this fall and you said that I could stay at your place," he beamed while Serah couldn't believe her ears.

"O-oh! No-now I remember!" she laughed uneasily. "Oh, silly me, how could I've forgotten?"

Hope smiled fondly at her as he resumed the hug. "It's so good to see you again, Light. I can't thank you enough for letting me stay at your place." Once again, Serah was taken aback with Hope's words. _Since when was Hope this forward with his feelings?_

Serah returned the hug by patting his back clumsily. "It's no problem… Hope," she said while breaking the hug. "I should… probably let you in now, huh?" Hope laughed lightly with a flushed face. He bent down slightly to pick up his bags and walked inside as Serah closed the door behind him.

"Um, what would you like to eat?" Serah asked sweetly, almost forgetting who she was supposed to be for the moment as she mentally kicked herself.

Hope laughed softly as he turned to face her after removing his shoes. "Since when do you cook?" Serah sighed in relief knowing that Hope didn't find her question or tone suspicious.

"Instant noodles it is then~" Serah walked over to the storage closet she had discovered earlier and pulled out two bowls. Even though she hated eating this stuff, there was nothing else to eat and she would rather eat the instant junk than nothing at all as her stomach cried out in hunger yet again.

"You should probably go unpack your stuff. I'll tell you when the noodles are ready," she informed, pouring water in a hot water maker as Hope nodded and brought his bags to his new room; the very room Lightning used to use for storage since she had no other use for it with her living by herself.

"Hey, Light?"

Serah had almost missed her chance to answer since she wasn't quite yet used to being called by her sister's name, let alone her nickname. "Uh, yeah, Hope?"

She was met with silence as she thought that maybe she had waited too long to answer and he had already left the kitchen.

"I missed you…" he had said very softly, so softly that Serah had almost missed it again. She froze as she turned around. She was confused on how to respond to that kind of confession. Serah thought hard on how Lightning would've answered him if she were here at this moment. What would be the "Lightning" way to respond?

"Y-you should go unpack now. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Serah slowly turned back around to face the hot water maker as she dispensed the water in their separate bowls. Hope stared at her back with an unreadable expression before nodding to himself and walking in the direction to his new room with a quiet "okay".

Once Serah was certain that Hope had left the kitchen and that she was by herself, she released a sigh that she had been holding in the entire time they were in the room together. She leaned against the cool surface of the marble counter-top as she waited for the noodles to cook in the hot water.

"This isn't going to get any easier, is it?"

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter one [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_[Edit] Wow, I just noticed this now, but ff(dot)net deleted a whole bunch of my exclamation points. WHAT THE HELL. [/rage]

It may be a bit OOC-ish with my failed attempt at humor. Whenever it becomes too OOC, please tell me politely and I'll change it. The same goes for any errors and typos C8 And I hope it wasn't too confusing with the pronouns and names since Serah and Lightning did switch bodies.

I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and since I had a _lot_ of free time, I managed to finish the entire fanfiction so I'll try to update regularly. Maybe... every 2 weeks? How's that?

And now for the preview~ 8D_**  
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_**Preview: **__"Now that we're finally alone we can finally put that plan into action… you know, with the big, happy family?"_

_**Please leave a review for this review monster C8**_

__[Last edited: 9/4/11]_**  
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	2. A misunderstanding in paradise

_**Reversed Misfortune**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Yeah, so it's a little late and I apologize for that DX You can blame school for that lol;;; (And the sudden overflow of glorious _Final Fantasy XIII-2 _trailers and new information from the Tokyo Game Show lol;;;)**_  
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_**Disclaimer: **_(insert witty disclaimer explaining how I don't own _Final Fantasy XIII _here)

_-xxx-_

_A day doesn't go by when you aren't on my mind._

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter two: A misunderstanding in paradise**_

Lightning lay quietly on Serah's bed, unable to fall asleep, her eyes shut tightly.

It was mostly because it was way too early for her to be in bed since she normally didn't go to sleep until around midnight along with the fact that the mattress was way too soft for her. She wasn't used to it nor did she like it.

It was like she was sleeping on one massive uncomfortable cloud from hell.

She tossed and turned constantly, hoping to fall asleep some time soon, preferably before Snow would decide to join her for the night, something she was dreading with all her heart and soul. Turning side to side once again, she ultimately ended up with her face mashed against the equally soft pillow as she felt it slowly deflate with a soft _poof_.

_What the hell possessed Serah to buy this stupid mattress?_

Lightning glanced to her right where a small clock stood on a nightstand. _It's already ten?_ She sighed deeply as she turned to flop on her back once again, her face to the ceiling, and not the slightest bit tired even after all that tossing and turning.

When Lightning heard the soft _click_ of the doorknob turning, she quickly flipped her body away from the door, pulling the thick floral blankets over her head in one fluid motion all before a figure walked into the room, closing the door quietly behind them. The person walked with heavy footsteps that echoed throughout the room. It was very obvious that it was Snow since there was unfortunately no one else in the house.

Her trained ears followed the sound of the footsteps as he walked into the bathroom to wash up. About five minutes later, Snow got out and joined her on the bed. Lightning scowled as she felt a deep dip on the left side of the bed as she involuntarily slowly slid closer to him, her back facing him. _Curse this stupid mattress. _

Trying to fall asleep once again, Lightning shut her eyes closed with as much force as possible and prayed for sleep to overcome her.

Suddenly, just when Lightning was starting to feel herself falling asleep, a pair of strong thick arms wrapped around her tiny waist. Her eyes shot wide open as she jumped slightly in his grasp. Snow was startled as well when Lightning flinched and started to pull away from him.

Snow leaned in closer to her as she felt his warmth approaching. She bit her lip as he closed the distance between them. "I'm sorry, baby. Did I wake you?" Snow whispered lovingly.

Lightning bit down even harder to prevent herself from saying anything that she might regret later. She desperately wanted to shout out "Don't call me 'baby'!" but she had to remember who she was right now. She was Serah Farron; wife to Snow Villiers, not Lightning Farron.

"Um… d-don't worry about it…" Snow tightened his hold around her waist as she felt chills up and down her spine as she tried to distance herself from him and his arms around her. He leaned in closer to her, so close she could feel his hot breath on her neck. Lightning felt like she was suffocating in Snow's love for Serah as she urgently wanted to escape his rib-crushing embrace.

_I swear to freakin' god, if I wasn't supposed to be Serah right now I would—_

"Now that we're finally alone we can finally put that plan into action…" Snow whispered in a deep voice. Lightning managed to whisper a puzzled "huh?" before he explained further.

"You know," he smiled. "… the one to make a big, happy family?" Snow finished his sentence with a soft kiss on her neck as Lightning could take no more as she jumped out of his grasp and out of the bed. Snow stared at his wife with wide eyes, confused, his mouth slightly agape. Did he do something wrong? He remembered how Serah didn't mind it last time. He was positive that she even enjoyed it.

Lightning was beyond pissed. And not only that, she was also completely mortified and scarred for all eternity. There were just some things about Snow and Serah's married life that she did _not_ ever need to know.

"Baby…, what's wrong?" Snow asked worried. "I thought you said that—"

"Stop!" she interrupted. "Just stop for a second…" No more, she did not want to hear anymore of what Snow and Serah had done together before. Just the thought of it made her sick. Sure, she had promised Serah that she would do her best to keep this secret hidden, but there was just no way in _hell_ that she would be joining Snow in bed to do _that_.

Snow stared at Lightning with a puzzled look as he tried to reach out for her. "Baby, c'mon, come back to be—"

"I—uh—I'm sick," Lightning quickly lied. She coughed multiple times into her arm to back up her poor lying skills. "So I'll just… uh, sleep on the couch tonight."

Once she said that, Snow seemed all too eager to get out of the bed. He practically leaped out of the covers. "I'll join you!"

"No!" Lightning shouted lowly, a bit too quick and a bit too much like how she usually talked. Snow stared at her in disbelief as she cleared her throat and tried her best to mimic Serah's voice.

"Wouldn't want you catching it…" Lightning said sweetly. "_Darling_," she added with a hint of attitude and sarcasm. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"O-okay… if that's what you want…" Finally, the idiot understood. "Good night, then."

With a swift "good night" from Lightning, she casually walked out of the room with a smaller blanket in hand that she grabbed from the edge of the bed. She ran to the nearby bathroom along the hall and scrubbed her neck with soap and water with all her might before heading to the living room downstairs.

_I swear, I am going to show that Maqui a whole new meaning of pain once I get my body back!_

_-xxx-_

Serah clutched Lightning's cell phone tightly as she, once again, attempted to dial her phone that was in her sister's possession.

This was at least her third attempt to try and get in touch with Lightning since she woke up. Hope was still asleep in the other room, _thank god._ Serah desperately hoped that he would stay asleep until she could get Lightning to pick up her phone, not wanting Hope to overhear their conversation. But the fear of him waking up any minute never left her as she dialed the number again and held the phone to her ear, anxious.

"_Serah here~"_ Serah realized a heavy sigh as she listened to the same voice recording again. _"Sorry I can't get to the phone right now. Leave a message and I'll—"_

Serah closed the phone shut as her head met the cool surface of the dining table as she groined onto it, the table muffling her voice. She really, _really_ needed to talk to her. What could she possibly be doing now?

"Why won't you answer my calls, sis?"

_-xxx-_

Lightning shifted to her side as she pulled the blankets closer to her body. Tucking the warm blankets around her, she refused to wake up and get up, her bed way too comfortable to leave despite the fact that she was already half-awake. She let out a soft yawn and gently stretched out her limbs before settling back into her soft blankets and comfy bed.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she felt large hands over her closed eyelids.

"Good morn—" Before the person even had a chance to continue, Lightning's experiences as a soldier kicked in as she reached behind her and grabbed his arms and forcibly threw him off of her, flipping him onto the clean hardwood floor. As soon as his back hit the floor, Lightning quickly got out of her bed and placed her foot to his neck, causing a painful grunt to escape from his lips.

Once Lightning saw who it was that she had tossed onto the floor, she froze momentarily before as she removed her foot from the base of his neck.

"_Snow? !_" Lightning said surprised with a hint of anger laced in her voice. "What the hell are you doing in my room? !"

Snow groaned in pain as he tried to pick himself off the floor. "Y-your room?" He choked out. "You're in the living room… don't you remember, baby?"

_Baby…?_ Lightning quickly scanned her surroundings only to remember her current situation and who she was supposed to be.

"Oh, silly me! I forgot… sorry…" Lightning reached for Snow as she helped him off the floor and eased him carefully onto the couch.

"Jesus, honey, I never knew you had strength like that," Snow said out of breath as he relaxed onto the couch, obviously still in a lot of pain.

"_Actually_…" Snow started as Lightning glanced at him, his tone greatly worrying her. "It kind of reminded me of sis and how she used to punch me all the time when we were l'Cie…" _Crap… not good._ "And did I hear you swear earli—"

"Light!" Lightning quickly interrupted, catching Snow off-guard as he stared at her, stunned at her sudden outburst. "Uh, sis taught me a few of her moves before… just in case, you know, if something were to happen I could defend myself… And you scared me earlier so I couldn't help myself…" Lightning said sweetly and very Serah-like.

Snow nodded with his hand on his chin, deep in thought. "Hmm… yeah… that makes sense." _Thank the Maker that this oaf is a world-class idiot, _Lightning sighed as he happily bought her lie.

"Ha, leave it to sis to teach some self defense moves when you have a hero like me~" Snow said proudly with a hearty laugh.

Lightning controlled her annoyance for the blond as she tried her best to laugh along with him.

_-xxx-_

After washing up and eating breakfast together like how married couples were supposed to (unfortunately), it was almost twelve and Snow had just gone to work to help PSICOM and some other soldiers from the Guardian Corps expand their civilization in the vast new world. Snow and the other former l'Cie had been a great asset to the military once they got over the whole fugitive and "enemies of Cocoon" phase. The past l'Cie were helpful since they were already familiar with the land of Gran Pulse.

_At least I won't have to spend an entire day with him or I might kill him or myself, which ever happens first._

Lightning made her way to Serah's closet as she pulled the doors opened only to frown upon the contents of said closet. All the clothes that hung from the hangers were all very frilly; many with an array of decorative floral prints on them, and very feminine; all way too feminine for Lightning's taste.

"What the hell am I supposed to wear?" She had never realized how many articles of clothing Serah owned but she had a feeling that the closet packed with clothes and shoes was just the half of it. Lightning spotted a dresser off to the side that was probably filled with even more clothes. Lightning walked to said dresser in hopes of finding something more suitable and comfortable to wear.

Before Lightning even went to pull the top drawer open, she noticed Serah's phone on top of the dresser. She picked it up and found five missed calls that were dialed from her phone. She immediately guessed it to be Serah's doing since her phone was now in her possession.

Out of all the missed calls from her, Serah only left one message.

"_Sis! Where are you and why aren't you picking up? Please, please call me back when you have the chance!"_

Lightning pulled the phone away from her ear as she quickly dialed her number, waiting for Serah to pick up.

She picked up by the third ring.

"_Finally!"_ Serah gasped on the other end. _"Oh, I was so worried!"_

"Sorry… what did you need to talk to me about?" Lightning asked as she moved to sit on the bed, sinking deep into the soft mattress.

"_I need you to come over right now, sis. It's _very_ important that you do." _She explained.

"But, Serah, I—"

"_Oh no! I have to go! I'll talk to you when you get here," _Serah said quickly in a hushed voice. _"See you!" _With that said, Serah ended the call as Lightning pull the phone away from her ear as it returned to the home screen.

"—have nothing to wear."

_-xxx-_

After basically raiding and digging through her younger sister's closet and dresser, Lightning finally decided to settle with a pair of white skinny jeans and a peach-colored ruffle top that was decorated with floral prints. And because Lightning refused to wear any of Serah's god-forsaken sandals, she had settled on wearing a simple pair of brown boots she had found hidden all the way in the back of the closet. And since Lightning couldn't care less about Serah's long unruly hair (bed hair was the worst), she just tied it up in a lazy ponytail after finally managing to brush down the messy loose curls.

Once she was dressed and ready to go, Lightning left and traveled a few blocks down the street and took a taxi she saw along the way. When the driver pulled over to her apartment, she got out and walked into the building and took one of the elevators up to the thirteenth floor. She walked down the empty hallway and currently stood in front of her own apartment door, feeling a bit strange and out of place. _But then again, this whole ordeal is just strange and unusual_, Lightning thought with distaste as she rang the doorbell.

Lightning didn't have to wait long as the door quickly opened the second her finger left the doorbell. "Sis! I'm so glad you're he—" Serah paused midsentence as she examined Lightning up and down with an unreadable face.

"… W-what… are you _wearing_?"

Lightning walked passed Serah and into her home. "The only clothes you owned that I felt comfortable walking out in public with," Lightning answered in a bored tone.

"Those boots do not match those clothes!" Serah shouted, horrified, while pointing at Lightning's attire. "Why are you even wearing boots in the middle of summer? !" she asked. "And that shirt is just hideous! Where did you even find that? I could've sworn I donated it," Serah cried. Just when Lightning thought she was done criticizing her appearance, she gasped loudly. "And my hair! _What have you done to it? !_"

Lightning huffed in annoyance. "I tied it up because it was annoying me." There was a reason why Lightning never allowed her hair to grow past her shoulder blades. "Just be glad that I didn't cut it all off like I originally planned to do."

Once Lightning was positive that Serah was done panicking, she stared at herself—er—Serah—_wow, this is going to take some getting used to_—and raised a brow.

"Where did you get that shirt?" She asked accusingly. "And I've never seen those shorts before."

Serah wore a stylish and simple cream-colored top that slid off one of Lightning's pale shoulders, a strap of a gray tank top peeking out. The ends of the shirt hugged the waist perfectly as the peach-colored shorts went nicely with the shirt; all while making Lightning's long legs stand out. Serah also styled Lightning's hair so that it was all held together in a loose small bun that hung just slightly below her left ear. Thinner and smaller strands of hair were left as they were.

Serah laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "Yeah… about that… after I tried to call you this morning I saw your clothes and it was just an utter catastrophe!" Lightning crossed her arms and shifted her weight to her left leg, waiting for Serah to continue her explanation, her lips pursed.

"I mean, I've never seen so many grays, whites and blacks before in my entire life! And don't even get me started on your awful collection of tee-shirts and sweatpants," Serah said while flailing her arms everywhere, emphasizing her point. "So, I did you a favor and quickly went out and brought you some new clothes~"

In response, Lightning lightly smacked her face with her palm as she let out a long sigh. "Serah… there was nothing wrong with my clothes."

"And there is nothing wrong with mine," she countered sweetly. "Oh! But that wasn't why I called you over for!"

"Then what did you need to tell me?"

"I wanted to talk to you about—" Suddenly, the door opened, interrupting Serah, as a familiar figure appeared at the front.

"Hey, Light! I brought you the groceries you said you wanted."

Lightning turned around, immediately reacting to her name being called and that voice. When her eyes met his kind emerald green, hers widened slightly as a result.

"Welcome back, Hope." Serah said happily with a wide smile.

Hope stood where he was slightly confused, his hands full of plastic grocery bags as he looked back and forth between an overly happy 'Lightning' and a very shocked 'Serah'.

_Oh, _crap_…_

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter two [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_So the next chapter will be up in two weeks (I hope... lol;;;) I will try to have it up in two weeks! lol

And believe it or not, I had a hard time planning and typing this chapter. Snow/Lightning makes me cringe. I tried my hardest to imagine Serah in Lightning's situation but that idea didn't really work... lol;;; [/fail]

And older!Hope, oh my god. Square Enix just went above and beyond my expectations on how a 17+ year old Hope would look like. And Snow... I have mixed feelings about his new appearance... I don't hate it exactly... I don't know lol but I do know that I prefer him with his bandanna lol

Oh! (and this may not be true so don't take my word for it, it just seems like a rumor now lol) but Square Enix recently registered a domain for _Final Fantasy XIII-3_... MY HEART. [/squeeeeeels] (I clearly love this game way too much... lol;;;)

And did anyone watch the English version of the TGS trailers? (and Hope's temporary voice change? lol) I don't know what to expect from this game anymore since all the rather spoiling scenes have been shown lolol;;; (oooh, I wonder what's going to happennn)_**  
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_**Preview: **__"No I'm not angry… just surprised…"_

_**Please, please review~ C8**_

[Last Edit: 9/21/11]_**  
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	3. Tension on the road

_**Reversed Misfortune**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Has it been 2 weeks already? I've been so busy lately I lost track DDD8 PLEAAASE FORGIVE ME. (Especially since this is a short chapter DDDDD'8)_**  
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_**Disclaimer: **_I own _Final __Fantasy__ XIII_... ahaha, April Fools! :P

_-xxx-_

_If I close my eyes, maybe this'll all turn out to be a dream._

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter three: Tension on the road**_

"That was fast. I hope it wasn't too much of a bother." Serah continued to smile, clearly enjoying the current situation a bit too much.

Hope turned away from 'Serah' and faced 'Lightning' with a small grin of his own. "Yeah, there weren't a lot of people so I got the shopping done fast. And don't worry about it, Light," he said sweetly. "Where do you want me to put the bags?" Hope asked while lifting up the bags to show Serah.

"You can just put them on the kitchen table; I'll put them away later." Hope nodded, his eyes never leaving 'Lightning'. He tilted his head to the side a bit as he studied her outward appearance.

"Are those new clothes, Light?"

Serah's eyebrows shot up slightly before returning another smile. "Yes, they are."

Hope's face flushed a light pink. "They look nice on you," he spoke, his face turning an even darker shade of pink. He directed his attention to the floor as an attempt to hide his bright face while Serah turned to Lightning with a small smug smile on her face.

Hope glanced up once he felt his face starting to cool down. On the side, he noticed 'Serah' standing nearby and immediately felt guilty for not properly greeting her earlier. He had almost forgotten about her presence once he had laid eyes on 'Lightning'.

"Serah…" It took Lightning a while to respond as she turned to him, realizing that he was talking to her. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" He smiled. "I haven't seen you since the wedding."

Lightning nodded. "Yes, it's been a while…" she said awkwardly, hoping that it wouldn't show. While Snow wasn't the brightest person in the world, Hope was a different story. He was smart and very observant. If she were to make one slip up, Hope would most likely catch it. "How have you been?"

"I've been good," he replied. "Light talks about you a lot."

Serah's ears perked up at this as she raised an amused eyebrow.

"Oh, does she now?" Lightning asked, attempting to sound surprised.

"But only the good things," Serah added in. "… right?"

Hope chuckled softly as he nodded before heading to the kitchen to put the shopping bags away.

"Well then," Serah sighed while briefly swinging her arms back and forth. "I'm sorry, Hope, but I'm going to be heading out with si—uh—Serah. Call me if you need anything," she informed.

Returning to the living room, Hope looked slightly disappointed. "Oh… okay. See you later then." Serah nodded as she went to put on her shoes. Hope glanced over to Lightning as their eyes met.

"It was nice to see you again, Serah," Hope approached her with his arms slightly outstretched for a friendly hug. Lightning hesitantly agreed, weakly returning the hug. "Please do come and visit more often." Lightning nodded as Serah started to pull on her arm. They waved to Hope before walking out the door.

Once the door was closed, Hope dropped his hand back to his side before bringing the other up to scratch his messy silver locks.

"Was it just me, or did Serah seem… different?" he quietly asked himself. When she was over just a second ago, she hadn't said much and only responded when spoken to. He'd expected Serah's bubbly self to be talking nonstop the second she entered the apartment but she had remained silent.

Hope turned on his heel and started walking towards the kitchen. "Maybe she was just tired…" _I__ mean,__ she_ does _have__ to__ put__ up__ with__ Snow __everyday_, he thought jokingly.

_-xxx-_

Serah attempted to get into the driver's seat but Lightning quickly got there before her and refused to move aside.

"But you don't even have a driver's license!" Serah tried to reason.

"No, I do. You're the one who doesn't," Lightning replied firmly, playfully poking Serah's head back with a finger. "And plus…," she reached into her pocket and pulled out something. "… you're not the one with the keys to the locked car." She mocked while dangling the set of keys in front of Serah whose mouth was slightly agape. Frowning, she gave up and walked over to the passenger's seat.

Once Lightning got into the driver's seat, Serah spoke. "I can not believe that you didn't tell me that Hope was going to be coming over and staying!" she said. "You have no idea how shocked I was when he just showed up at your door!"

"Sorry… it slipped my mind." Lightning apologized. "I didn't realize that you would've gotten this angry about it…"

Serah sighed and leaned back against the soft cushions of the seat. "No… sorry, I'm not angry… just very surprised." She admitted while running her hand through her neatly brushed hair. "You just never seemed like a person to willingly invite someone to stay over your house for an extended period of time."

Lightning remained silent, unmoving in her seat as Serah glanced over. "Guess I was wrong…"

"So… why did you decide to drag me to my car of all places?" Lightning asked nonchalantly after a moment of silence, half-hoping that it would change the subject.

Serah shrugged. "I just thought that it would be a good place to talk about this… situation, you know, a place away from unwanted ears… I also didn't expect Hope to be back so soon when you came over." She said. "I also wanted to see if you would let me drive your car." She admitted with an innocent chuckle.

Lightning furrowed her brows, staring at Serah as if she was crazy before she suddenly remembered something important. "Oh, before I forget, about the GC, I made a call to them before I came over."

Serah turned to Lightning with her full attention. "And what did you tell them?" she asked while gripping lightly onto Lightning's arm.

"I told them that _my__ sister_ wasn't feeling well… So you don't have to go to work pretending to be me…" Lightning could only imagine how terrible that would end up.

Sighing in relief, Serah placed her hand over her heart. "Oh my god, I totally forgot about your crazy job as a soldier! Good call… I would've gotten myself killed." She said. Serah didn't even know anything to do with combat, let alone how to properly hold or use that strange contraption of a weapon her sister used. "But were they okay with it? Obviously it won't take me a day to get over this 'cold'." Serah said with air quotes around "cold".

Lightning scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Captain Amodar practically gave you a week of vacation… said something about how I seriously needed it," she said, the last part mostly to herself. "We just better hope that Maqui can fix this within a week. If he doesn't, I swear I will—"

"_Claire!_"

"_What?_" Lightning retorted. "You obviously can't be happy with this situation, can you?"

"O-of course not!" Serah said quietly. "As kind and sweet Hope is, I miss my big heroic teddy bear!" Lightning rolled her eyes in response as Serah stuck her tongue out in a playful manner.

"Oh yes, one more thing I needed to tell you, sis," Serah said slowly as Lightning grew suspicious at the way her voice sounded. She had noted how it was slightly higher than normal and it brought her back to her childhood, specifically whenever Serah wanted to tell her something that she knew that Lightning wouldn't be pleased to hear.

"What?"

Serah stirred a bit in her seat, nervous. "Um, unlike your job and your relationship with your captain, I can't exactly call in sick for a week…" she said with a sheepish smile. Lightning's face dropped, eyes filled with a flash of horror. _I__ knew __it__…_

"You have got to be kidding me." Lightning said. "No, there is no way in hell, Serah. No." she said firmly with a hint of anger and annoyance. "Isn't it bad enough that I have to pretend to be Snow's wife?" She asked. "Listen to me, Serah; nothing will make me go over there as you and say—"

_-xxx-_

"Hello, I'm Serah Villiers and I will be your server for today. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Oh, it was going to be one long and torturous night for Lightning Farron…

… and she was not looking forward to it at all.

_-xxx-_

_**Chapter three [END]**_

_-xxx-_

_**A/n: **_Fanfiction(dot)net has been acting strange lately... first it deletes my exclamation points and then it takes away all the spaces in between italicized words. [/FLIPS TABLE]

OOOOOHMAAAAAIMOOOOGLE, has anyone seen all the new recent FF13-2 trailers? I know I have lool (EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM LOLOL;;; [/no life]) It's even gotten to the point where I can recite lines from the Japanese TGS trailers and match them up with the messed up lip-syncing in the English version lool;;;;

But luckily, with the new one from Comic-Con, it looks like it's been fixed 8DD

And older!Hope... all I can say is Lightning will certainty be proud when she sees him, AHURHURHUR.

And before you guys decide to put my head on a pitchfork for delaying this chapter only to be treated with a short chapter... please understand that I didn't think that it was suitable for this chapter to be combined with the next chapter (which, as a warning, is also slightly short DX) BUT THERE WILL BE MORE HOPE LATER, I PROMISE~

I seriously tried everything I could to make this longer though, I swear D8_**  
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_**Preview:**__ Lightning__ looked__ up,__ her__ eyebrows__ slightly __furrowed__ in__ confusion.__ "__What__ are__ you__ talking__ about?__"_

_**Review,**__** s**__**'**__**il**__** vous**__** plait?**__** C8**_


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